What Does Google’s Helpful Content Update Mean for Dental SEO?

As a marketing agency, we have to stay up-to-date in the world of Dental SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Why? Because SEO is a huge part of what we do for dentists. It’s how patients find you online. That’s why we are here now; we want to address the recently announced “Helpful Content Update” Google will be rolling out over the next few weeks.

We care more about new patient numbers and production than we do about any other marketing metric, and SEO is one of the primary ways we get new patients for your practice. Staying on top of the changing landscape is essential. 

Here’s what we will cover about the Helpful Content Update:

• What is the Helpful Content Update?
• Can this update impact your Google rankings? 
• SEO strategies we rely on

What is the Helpful Content Update?

This update, according to Google, is  “part of a broader effort to ensure users see more original, helpful content written by people, for people, in search results.” The helpful content update aims to reward better content where users feel they’ve had a satisfying experience, while content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well.

This update introduces a new site-wide signal that considers all the content on your website when ranking your website on search results. Google will automatically identify content that seems to have little value, low-added value or is otherwise not particularly helpful on your website and will use this information to score your website as a whole, instead of page by page.

Can This Update Impact Organic Traffic to Your Dental Website?

As with all major Google updates, the outcome is unpredictable. “Winning” with Google is not an exact art. We have seen with past major updates that some clients had a significant fluctuation in rankings, whereas others had no change. The truth is, no matter what we do to minimize impact, an updated algorithm can still cause shifts in one direction or another when it comes to Dental SEO.

While we do not yet understand how this particular update will impact website rankings, it is important to note that these Google updates often tend to “level out,” and rankings return to normal on their own. Monitoring the data and analyzing the results we are seeing across all our clients will allow us to better understand the bigger picture and how to recover if rankings are negatively affected. 

We have noticed that clients with websites created by other agencies tend to have more unpredictable outcomes with pages that have not been optimized. Not to worry! When you have our dental SEO company on your side, we are continuously monitoring the ups and downs and doing what we need to move on a solid upward trajectory.

SEO Strategies We Rely On

Google has repeatedly stated that creating unique and helpful content is the best way to improve rankings. As a dental SEO company, we follow Google’s best practices when updating/adding content to our client’s websites. We optimize that content continuously to ensure we provide the best experience for potential patients visiting our clients’ dental websites.

Here are some ways to optimize your dental website for SEO:

• Improve local search rankings by optimizing your service pages; add a healthy amount of keywords based on your location.
• Write a dental blog
• Use targeted key phrases throughout your website that include your services and information about your location.
• Use a mix of content, from text to photos to videos
• List your website on local online directories or with local organizations
• Keep your Google My Business profile updated regularly

Let’s Get Some Cheeks in Seats!

We do our absolute best to ensure we stay up-to-date with all dental SEO marketing practices, and keeping you in the know is an essential part of our relationship. Please reach out if you have any questions. We are here to help!